Weekly With Juneteenth upon us this weekend, we put together a list of public events across New York City that you can join to observe and celebrate this important holiday. I also recommend revisiting our 2020 special Sunday Edition on Juneteenth, with illuminating contributions by Leigh Raiford, Cherise Smith, Jasmine Weber, and other great scholars and writers. In other news this week, students at Seattle Pacific University found a creative way to protest the school's anti-LGBTQ+ hiring policy, NFT prices plummeted, Kashmir got its first privately owned gallery, and many more stories. You should also check out our lists of must-see art exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles all throughout this summer! There's something in them for everyone (especially people with good taste, yeah?). I wish you all a restful and meaningful weekend, and a calm, happy summer. — Hakim Bishara, interim editor-in-chief Become a Member Bryant Park's contemporary dance series closes with a Juneteenth performance. (photo by Andrew Fassbender; courtesy Bryant Park) Meaningful Events to Honor Juneteenth in New York City
From Harlem to Brooklyn, from joyful dance to quiet reflection, here are eight ways to observe Juneteenth and recognize the enduring repercussions of slavery. The edition includes a conversation with scholar Leigh Raiford about photography’s role in documenting the liberation struggle, artist Deborah Roberts's reflection on her own family Juneteenth celebrations, and Jasmine Weber's look at John Wilson's powerful (now destroyed) mural about the rise of the KKK and their regime of terror against Black Americans. NEWS THIS WEEK SPU students handed Interim President Pete C. Menjares pride flags upon receipt of their diplomas. (screenshots Valentina Di Liscia/Hyperallergic via SPUisGay) Graduating students at Seattle Pacific University staged a creative protest of the school’s ban on hiring LBGTQ+ staff. The Smithsonian Board of Regents has voted to return 29 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. Provenance research is still being conducted on the remaining ten. A coin surfaces on eBay depicting the United States Border Patrol’s egregious treatment of Haitian migrants along the border. The Internet is going wild for AI image generator DALL-E Mini, producing a grid of visuals that are the stuff of nightmares. Two viral social media posts offer opposing stories about what happened to Marilyn Monroe’s dress during its Met Gala appearance. NFT values plummet as cryptocurrencies reach an 18-month low. HOTTEST EXHIBITIONS IN NYC & LA THIS SUMMER Christine Sun Kim, “Time Owes Me Rest Again” (2022) (photo by Hai Zhang, courtesy Queens Museum) 21 Art Shows to See in New York This Summer
With the equinox just around the corner, we present our most anticipated exhibitions of the season.This summer already feels different from the last couple of years. Spending time with family and friends is a welcome respite, as is experiencing art in person again across the five boroughs. Against all odds, New York’s museum and nonprofit spaces are operating at full capacity for the first time since 2019, with programs looking back on recent history and forward to challenges ahead. Installation view of Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2022 (photo © Museum Associates/LACMA) What to See in LA This Summer
Explore those hidden pockets of LA with our guide to exhibitions across the county (and a little bit beyond).If you know anything about Los Angeles, you know that the city is full of weird and wonderful niches geared towards almost everything imaginable, and its art world is no exception — there are museums at native plant nurseries, gallery spaces given over to exhibiting ramen and blood-infused mushrooms, even exhibitions involving the likes of Cheech & Chong and Tupac Shakur. DEFINING IDENTITY Chloe Chiasson, “Sunday Confessions” (2022) (photo by Thomas Mueller, courtesy Albertz Benda Gallery) What Does Southern Queerness Look Like?
Elaine Velie talks with Chloe Chiasson about drawing inspiration from her conservative Texas hometown to make space for queer figures.“Places like where I’m from have always overlooked, ignored, or disowned the actual people in that place — queer communities in towns both small and large,” Chiasson said. Because of this history, she sees her home and many similar towns as places of resistance, but she also explores what these towns could become. Art, With an Asterisk
Amanda Curreri on *** at form and concept. ABSTRACTION & EXPERIMENTATION Vivian Browne, "Umbrella Plant" (1971), oil on canvas (© Vivian Browne, courtesy RYAN LEE Gallery, New York, and Adobe Krow Archives, Los Angeles) Works on view teem with swathes of zigzags, wavy lines, polka dots, tiles, and even irregular rows of what resemble tiny eyes, hinting at the depth and breadth of visual stimuli that Browne experienced on her travels. PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE From Neptune Frost (2021), dir. Anisia Uzeyman & Saul Williams (courtesy Kino Lorber) The Afrofuturist Musical Romance of Neptune Frost
Steve Macfarlane examines how Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman’s new film performs a radical intervention upon the science fiction genre. A Queer Asian American Twist on Pride and Prejudice
Dillon Heyck reviews Fire Island, which relocates the Jane Austen classic to explore intersecting issues of race and class in the gay community. ALSO ON HYPERALLERGIC Eric J. Garcia, “Alien Robot” (2022), prickly pear ink on paper, 8 x 6 inches (courtesy the artist) The Real Space Invaders
New Mexico artist Eric J. García creates satirical sci-fi images of White colonization, painted with prickly pear ink. Inside Kashmir’s First Commercial Art Gallery
Majid Maqbool spotlights Aesthetics Art Gallery and how it offers artists in the war-torn region a rare opportunity to show their work. Required Reading
This week, journalists are too pleased with themselves, Dolphins visit New York, Bill Gates hates NFTs, and more. IN OUR STORE This summer, luxuriate in the erotic art of Tom of Finland with this sexy set of zip pockets, each of which features an iconic drawing by the cult illustrator.
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